Quick Picks: Car Czar’s Possible Movie Role and Lobbying Lost
Before Steven Rattner achieved the lofty title of car czar in the Obama administration, he may have been the “senior executive” named in an SEC complaint alleging Quadrangle Group, which Rattner co-founded, is caught up in an alleged pay-to-play scheme involving New York’s pension fund, reports the Wall Street Journal. Said executive allegedly agreed to buy the rights to a low-budget movie named “Chooch,” co-produced by the deputy comptroller, and was then promised a $100 million investment.
Also, the shuttering of Washington lobbying powerhouse PMA Group after the FBI raided its offices last year is being felt in Congress, the Washington Post reports. FEC reports show that three senior members of the House Appropriations Committee, Peter J. Visclosky (D-IN), James Moran (D-VA) and John P. Murtha (D-PA)—who has ties to the lobbying firm’s founder—saw large individual donations drop 76 percent in the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period last year.
Check out more of our roundup of the best investigative stories around the Web. Was there a story we missed? Please keep sending us your picks or include them in the comments section below.
Get Updates
Our Hottest Stories
- The 182 Percent Loan: How Installment Lenders Put Borrowers in a World of Hurt
- IRS Office That Targeted Tea Party Also Disclosed Confidential Docs From Conservative Groups
- Medicare Drug Program Fails to Monitor Prescribers, Putting Seniors and Disabled at Risk
- On Victory Drive, Soldiers Defeated by Debt
- The Most Important #Muckreads on Rape in the Military
- Everything We Know About What’s Happened Under Sequestration
- The Story Behind Our Hospital Interactive
- Is Obama Delivering on His Promise of a “21st Century” Approach to Drugs?
- Lifting the Veil on Dangerous Prescribing
- FAQ: What You Need to Know About Prescriber Checkup
- IRS Office That Targeted Tea Party Also Disclosed Confidential Docs From Conservative Groups
- The 182 Percent Loan: How Installment Lenders Put Borrowers in a World of Hurt
- Everything We Know About What’s Happened Under Sequestration
- On Victory Drive, Soldiers Defeated by Debt
- Medicare Drug Program Fails to Monitor Prescribers, Putting Seniors and Disabled at Risk
- How the IRS’s Nonprofit Division Got So Dysfunctional
- Is Obama Delivering on His Promise of a “21st Century” Approach to Drugs?
- Intern vs. Mayor: Battle Bares Bloomberg's Argument for Secrecy
- The Most Important #Muckreads on Rape in the Military
- How We Analyzed Medicare’s Drug Data






